ESSAY CONTESTS www.TheCitizensWhoCare.org "Through My Eyes" - III Essay Contest - Alcohol Background Winners All essays Sixty-five Brookings-Harbor (OR) High School seniors wrote a non-fiction essay, anonymously or giving their name, about the impact of alcohol on their lives for April, 2008 (Alcohol Awareness Month). Some idea starters that were provided: How alcohol has affected my life? Whether it's scary or positive, feel free to share it. Remember to take it to the next level and tell us how it changed you. Are you dealing with peer pressure to drink alcohol, alcopops, jager bombs? How do you say no? Tell us more than just what you say or that you just walked away! Tell us what you do to avoid the pressure to try alcohol and how you handle yourself in a situation where you are offered alcohol. How you have helped a friend stay alcohol-free or how you have helped a friend to stop using alcohol. Are there specific ways you and your friends have avoided using alcohol. What do you know about the dangers of underage alcohol use, especially binge drinking? How often do you see pro-alcohol content in movies, in songs, on clothes or elsewhere? How do you guard yourself against these kinds of messages? How old were you if and when you drank your first beer or alcoholic beverage? What got you to try it? Essay Details: Essay length between 350 and 500 words, typed, double spaced. Judges: Winners were selected by the Words & Pictures Book Club & friends. Judges decision is final. Awards: The top 25 entrants receive a $5 gift certificate from Fred Meyers. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a check for $100 from The Citizens Who Care. The top 9 essays will appear in an issue of The Pilot during the month of April - Alcohol Awareness Month as well as a gift certificate from Wild River Pizza. What is the purpose of the project? To get the students involved in alcohol awareness and to let the community see the issue from their perspective. And to encourage the police and judges to take a "No tolerance" stance and dole out serious consequences to retailers, adults and minors who violate the liquor laws. Why is it needed? Studies show that a great many minors drink without their parent's knowledge. And, the public doesn't get to see the impact alcohol has on them from their perspective. It's time to listen. What problems will it address? The generation gap of knowledge, and the magnitude and the seriousness of the growing alcohol problem in Brookings-Harbor High School and Azalea Middle school. How will you know the task was successful? When the community as a whole stops saying, "We don't have an alcohol or drug problem" until they actually aren't problems anymore. Sponsors: Wild River Pizza, The Curry Coastal Pilot, Words & Pictures, Fred Meyer and an anonymous group of The Citizens Who Care Contact Us for information regarding future Contests. TheCitizensWhoCare.org was developed and is maintained by Gordon Clay Through My Eyes™ is a registered trademarks of Gordon Clay ©2007-2009, www.TheCitizensWhoCare.org/brookings/throughmyeyesbackgroundIII.html